Those Horrid Homophones
English is a tricky language, even for those of us who’ve grown up with it as our mother tongue. Homophones, words that sound alike yet are spelled differently and have different meanings, are a major cause of headaches for writers because spell check programs cannot differentiate between what you intended and what your brain “heard” as you were typing.
As long as it’s spelled correctly, your spell checker will have no problem with something like this:
“Pane was something House had to suffer all his daze as he wished he had a good pare of legs again, but he felt life was just a veil of tears while Cuddy made him tow the line at work. He did like getting a peak of her chest when she yelled at him, and he liked it that she kneaded him, but it was all too much to bare and made him an addict. He got arrested and Wilson had to pay his bale, all because House couldn’t put breaks on his actions and just heel people. And Chase went to church to prey at the alter for House’s sole and for him to give up his vise.”
Okay, that’s an exaggerated example, but you get the picture. Just one or two misplaced homophones are enough to jolt a reader who knows better out of a story. A worse side effect is that the more often people see words used incorrectly, the more acceptable the incorrect version becomes to both the reader and the public.
Here’s a list of some of the most devilish of American English homophones:
aisle/isle: a walkway between seats or rows/poetic term for island
arc/ark: something curved or arched/a ship or place of safety
altar/alter: an area set aside for worship/to change
bail/bale: to dip water; security, as in to pay bail to get out of jail/a bundle
bare/bear: naked; to expose/big furry carnivorous animal; to carry, to endure
break/brake: an opening; to shatter or divide/a retarding device; to slow
bridal/bridle: refers to a wedding/headgear for a horse
buy/by/bye: purchase/next to or close to/short for “goodbye”
cannon/canon: artillery/a law or code
capital/capitol: city serving as the seat of government/the building where the government meets
(Special note: The trick to remembering this is to visualize the building with a round - like an “o” - dome.)
chord/cord: a combination of musical tones/string or rope
(Special note: You cannot literally strike a chord with a person, not unless you pick him up bodily and bang his head on a xylophone. “To strike a chord” is a figure of speech meaning that something has evoked an emotional response in someone.)
coarse/course: rough; common/direction; action; part of a meal
creek/creak: a small stream/to make a squealing sound
discreet/discrete: prudent/ distinct; separate
faint/feint: dim; weak; to pass out/a trick; a deceptive move
faze/phase: to disturb/a stage of development
feet/feat: more than one foot/an act of skill or strength
flu/flue: short for influenza/a chimney
gibe/jibe: sarcastic remark/to agree
grate/great: a frame of bars or to scrape/large; magnificent
heal/heel: to cure/part of the foot
hear/here: with the ear/in this place
idle/idol: unoccupied/object of worship
its/it’s: possessive for it; contraction of “it is”
(Special note: These two get the prize for most misused three letters in the entire language. It’s tricky because “its” is a possessive that does not use an apostrophe. A memory device for keeping it straight is: “Its does not possess an apostrophe.”)
knead/need: squeeze or roll with hands/something wanted
lead/led: a heavy metal/past participle of lead
morning/mourning: time of day before noon/grief
pact/packed: a formal agreement/past tense of pack
pail/pale: a bucket/light-colored
pair/pare/pear: two of a kind/to peel/a fruit
pane/pain: window glass/suffering
patience/patients: sick persons/composure; endurance
peace/piece: calmness/a portion
peak/pique/peek: the top, as in the top of a mountain/resentment; to offend; to catch one's interest/to look at slyly
peal/peel: to ring out/the rind; to strip off
peer/pier: one of equal rank; to look at steadily/a wharf
plain/plane: undecorated/a level surface; short for airplane
poor/pour/pore: inadequate; the needy/to flow/to study or to gaze at intently
pray/prey: to beseech/a captured victim
principal/principle: a school official; chief; leading/a general truth or rule
rain/rein/reign: falling water/part of a horse’s bridle; also to act as a curb on actions/to rule; the term of a ruler’s power
raise/raze/rays: to lift something/to destroy/beams of light
real/reel: actual/to spool; to whirl
right/rite/write/wright: correct; a privilege/a ceremony/to inscribe/a worker or a maker
ring/wring: a circular object or band of metal; also the tone of a bell/to twist or squeeze
road/rode/rowed: a public way/past tense of ride/to propel a boat with oars
role/roll: a part in a play or a film/a list; a type of bread; to revolve
root/route: underground part of a plant/an established course of travel
sail/sale: to travel by water/the act of selling or a special bargain.
(Special note: “Sell” and “sale” do not have the same meaning despite what you may have seen on signs. Everyone who's ever wanted to whip out a pen and correct a "for sell" sign, raise your hand.)
seam/seem: a crack or fissure/appear
shear/sheer: to cut or trim/transparent; unqualified, utter
shown/shone: displayed or revealed/gave off light; did shine
slight/sleight: slender; scanty; to make light of/dexterity
soar/sore: to rise, fly or glide/painful
sole/soul: one and only; the walking surface of a shoe; a type of fish/the immortal spirit
stair/stare: a step/to look at
straight/strait: not crooked; directly/a water passageway
suite/sweet: a group of things forming a unit/having a pleasing or agreeable taste
sword/soared: weapon/did fly
tact/tack: considerate manner/direction; to change direction
tail/tale: an animal’s posterior/a story
taught/taut: did teach/tight or tense
threw/through/thru: past tense of throw/by means of/slang for “by means of.”
toe/tow: the digits of a foot/to pull by rope.
(Special note: “Tow-headed” is an archaic term for having light-colored hair, and is not, though the words may be misleading, some gruesome form of child abuse. To “toe a line” does not mean to haul a rope. It means to behave yourself properly.)
track/tract: a rail/a treatise; a piece of land.
(Special note: If you have a digestive track, you should call a doctor immediately.)
undo/undue: to open; to render ineffective/improper; excessive
vale/veil: a valley/a concealing cover
vane/vein/vain: a weathervane/a blood vessel/fruitless or excessively proud
vice/vise: wickedness/a clamp
waist/waste: your beltline/to use carelessly
whose/who’s: possessive of who/contraction of “who is”
yoke/yolk: an oppressive constraint or oxen harness/the yellow part of an egg
your/you’re: belonging to you/contraction of “you are”
Got any favorite forms of homophone abuse? If so, please share below. We love this stuff!
As long as it’s spelled correctly, your spell checker will have no problem with something like this:
“Pane was something House had to suffer all his daze as he wished he had a good pare of legs again, but he felt life was just a veil of tears while Cuddy made him tow the line at work. He did like getting a peak of her chest when she yelled at him, and he liked it that she kneaded him, but it was all too much to bare and made him an addict. He got arrested and Wilson had to pay his bale, all because House couldn’t put breaks on his actions and just heel people. And Chase went to church to prey at the alter for House’s sole and for him to give up his vise.”
Okay, that’s an exaggerated example, but you get the picture. Just one or two misplaced homophones are enough to jolt a reader who knows better out of a story. A worse side effect is that the more often people see words used incorrectly, the more acceptable the incorrect version becomes to both the reader and the public.
Here’s a list of some of the most devilish of American English homophones:
aisle/isle: a walkway between seats or rows/poetic term for island
arc/ark: something curved or arched/a ship or place of safety
altar/alter: an area set aside for worship/to change
bail/bale: to dip water; security, as in to pay bail to get out of jail/a bundle
bare/bear: naked; to expose/big furry carnivorous animal; to carry, to endure
break/brake: an opening; to shatter or divide/a retarding device; to slow
bridal/bridle: refers to a wedding/headgear for a horse
buy/by/bye: purchase/next to or close to/short for “goodbye”
cannon/canon: artillery/a law or code
capital/capitol: city serving as the seat of government/the building where the government meets
(Special note: The trick to remembering this is to visualize the building with a round - like an “o” - dome.)
chord/cord: a combination of musical tones/string or rope
(Special note: You cannot literally strike a chord with a person, not unless you pick him up bodily and bang his head on a xylophone. “To strike a chord” is a figure of speech meaning that something has evoked an emotional response in someone.)
coarse/course: rough; common/direction; action; part of a meal
creek/creak: a small stream/to make a squealing sound
discreet/discrete: prudent/ distinct; separate
faint/feint: dim; weak; to pass out/a trick; a deceptive move
faze/phase: to disturb/a stage of development
feet/feat: more than one foot/an act of skill or strength
flu/flue: short for influenza/a chimney
gibe/jibe: sarcastic remark/to agree
grate/great: a frame of bars or to scrape/large; magnificent
heal/heel: to cure/part of the foot
hear/here: with the ear/in this place
idle/idol: unoccupied/object of worship
its/it’s: possessive for it; contraction of “it is”
(Special note: These two get the prize for most misused three letters in the entire language. It’s tricky because “its” is a possessive that does not use an apostrophe. A memory device for keeping it straight is: “Its does not possess an apostrophe.”)
knead/need: squeeze or roll with hands/something wanted
lead/led: a heavy metal/past participle of lead
morning/mourning: time of day before noon/grief
pact/packed: a formal agreement/past tense of pack
pail/pale: a bucket/light-colored
pair/pare/pear: two of a kind/to peel/a fruit
pane/pain: window glass/suffering
patience/patients: sick persons/composure; endurance
peace/piece: calmness/a portion
peak/pique/peek: the top, as in the top of a mountain/resentment; to offend; to catch one's interest/to look at slyly
peal/peel: to ring out/the rind; to strip off
peer/pier: one of equal rank; to look at steadily/a wharf
plain/plane: undecorated/a level surface; short for airplane
poor/pour/pore: inadequate; the needy/to flow/to study or to gaze at intently
pray/prey: to beseech/a captured victim
principal/principle: a school official; chief; leading/a general truth or rule
rain/rein/reign: falling water/part of a horse’s bridle; also to act as a curb on actions/to rule; the term of a ruler’s power
raise/raze/rays: to lift something/to destroy/beams of light
real/reel: actual/to spool; to whirl
right/rite/write/wright: correct; a privilege/a ceremony/to inscribe/a worker or a maker
ring/wring: a circular object or band of metal; also the tone of a bell/to twist or squeeze
road/rode/rowed: a public way/past tense of ride/to propel a boat with oars
role/roll: a part in a play or a film/a list; a type of bread; to revolve
root/route: underground part of a plant/an established course of travel
sail/sale: to travel by water/the act of selling or a special bargain.
(Special note: “Sell” and “sale” do not have the same meaning despite what you may have seen on signs. Everyone who's ever wanted to whip out a pen and correct a "for sell" sign, raise your hand.)
seam/seem: a crack or fissure/appear
shear/sheer: to cut or trim/transparent; unqualified, utter
shown/shone: displayed or revealed/gave off light; did shine
slight/sleight: slender; scanty; to make light of/dexterity
soar/sore: to rise, fly or glide/painful
sole/soul: one and only; the walking surface of a shoe; a type of fish/the immortal spirit
stair/stare: a step/to look at
straight/strait: not crooked; directly/a water passageway
suite/sweet: a group of things forming a unit/having a pleasing or agreeable taste
sword/soared: weapon/did fly
tact/tack: considerate manner/direction; to change direction
tail/tale: an animal’s posterior/a story
taught/taut: did teach/tight or tense
threw/through/thru: past tense of throw/by means of/slang for “by means of.”
toe/tow: the digits of a foot/to pull by rope.
(Special note: “Tow-headed” is an archaic term for having light-colored hair, and is not, though the words may be misleading, some gruesome form of child abuse. To “toe a line” does not mean to haul a rope. It means to behave yourself properly.)
track/tract: a rail/a treatise; a piece of land.
(Special note: If you have a digestive track, you should call a doctor immediately.)
undo/undue: to open; to render ineffective/improper; excessive
vale/veil: a valley/a concealing cover
vane/vein/vain: a weathervane/a blood vessel/fruitless or excessively proud
vice/vise: wickedness/a clamp
waist/waste: your beltline/to use carelessly
whose/who’s: possessive of who/contraction of “who is”
yoke/yolk: an oppressive constraint or oxen harness/the yellow part of an egg
your/you’re: belonging to you/contraction of “you are”
Got any favorite forms of homophone abuse? If so, please share below. We love this stuff!